Sunday's letters: High school mess

Sunday

Jun 3, 2018 at 2:00 AM

High school mess

To the editor: The saga continues regarding Hendersonville High School. The latest chapters involve bait-and-switch by the architects and critical lack of due diligence by the school board, City Council and County Commission.

I’d like to see Hendersonville High become a charter magnet school serving the whole county, with enrollment limited by the existing facility. Yes, kill the new school plans for which the county does not have enough money approved. Yes, remodel and upgrade the existing buildings, notably the Stillwell building. Future enrollment increases in the county can be best accommodated at the three existing directional high schools.

Otherwise, the three governing groups responsible for this continuing HHS mess may receive the same voters’ result Sheriff Charlie McDonald did.

J​ohn Harrison, Hendersonville

Anthem protests

To the editor: By its own admission, the NFL is legally a for-profit organization. Though it enjoys privileges unique to the professional sports industry, by and large, its standing is that of a revenue-producing business, pure and simple.

That a small minority of its highly paid and high-profile employees, the players, choose to make a political statement by taking a knee in lieu of standing during the Star-Spangled Banner is an internal matter. They were hired not as paragons of virtue or as model citizens but merely as players of a game.

If the NFL teams cite financial loss and/or embarrassment as a result of such unorthodox behaviors and elect to fine players for their pre-game publicity, so be it.

Jamie Blount, Hendersonville

Electoral College

To the editor: I think the tacit campaign to abolish the Electoral College, reflected in a May 24 letter, distorted the Constitution’s for it, which is unique among the world’s democracies. It was intended to ensure federal representation for each state in selecting presidents, and prevent states with large populations from nullifying the voices of smaller states.

The number of electors and the number of Congress members for each state are proportionate to the populations of the states, as determined by census data. Hence, the Electoral College and Congress are “democratic” to the same degree.

The Constitution empowers every state legislature to control how its electors are instructed, and they can change those procedures at will. Removal from state legislatures of this authority would weaken the federal nature of our republic.

Political math also argues that a constitutional amendment to abolish the Electoral College is highly improbable. It would require collusion by the states that would be penalized by its demise.

David M. Hudelson, Horse Shoe

Our responsibility

To the editor: I am a World War II veteran. I signed up when I was 17. I served three years aboard two different destroyers. Some of us were allowed to go ashore in Hiroshima just after the second bomb was dropped on this city. I remember the agony President Harry Truman shared with our nation, before and after those two bombs were dropped.

We have a stockpile of atomic bombs, an incredible threat to be used at a moment’s notice. Many other nations have the same threat to human life and property. But my guess is the most dangerous threats we all have to continually cope with are our freedom, responsibility and own sense of value.

Some seem to think our freedom gives us the right to ignore our responsibility for the safety of others. Civilized people care about one another’s lives, property and each other’s children. That’s why we spend trillions of dollars on the military, Social Security, Medicare, health insurance, speed laws, schools, etc.

Don Keefauver, Hendersonville

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